Augsburg

I got up and dressed early yesterday and arrived at the station in time to get breakfast before the train arrived. I had a wonderful pastry and a cafe latte, a bit of a splurge for breakfast, but tasty none the less. Our train ride to Augsburg took about 40 minutes, so it gave me time to plan what was important to see, one being the Jewish Cultural Museum, since it might be valuable to my paper.

When we arrived, we picked up some maps from the information desk (which turned out to be less than helpful since not all of the streets were marked) and I headed to the Jewish Cultural Museum with Dr. Veltze and Tara, our Iranian friend who is a scholarship student at the library. No one else seemed interested in this museum, so it was just the three of us. When we arrived at the museum, we discovered that there was a huge translation barrier between the gatekeeper (there was literally a gate), and us. Eventually, we managed to explain that we wanted to see the museum, which is housed in part of the synagogue, and were allowed in. There was no cost to enter the museum, but we soon discovered that we were going to learn very little unless we paid 1 E for the printed English guide. The museum had information about the presence of Jews in Augsburg from the middle ages through WWII, and up to the present day. The artifacts were beautiful, many of them done by hand, and the synagogue itself was incredible, with many ornately decorated alcoves. We were not allowed to take pictures in the synagogue, so I picked up a postcard for 1 E.

We ate lunch at a Turkish restaurant, which appealed to Tara, who has had trouble finding food that agreed with her stomach and sense of taste, as the food is vastly different from Iranian food. I had a salad with some seasoned meat and a piece of bread that was sliced perfectly to make a sandwich. It was quite tasty and reminded me a bit of Greek food with the yogurt sauce.

After leaving the Jewish Museum, we made our way to the Fuggeri, by way of a Catholic cemetary, which was very elaborate and appeared to be for the wealthy members of the community. What surprised me most were the miniature gardens that were at each grave site, including shrubbery and vines. When we arrived at the Fuggeri, we were pleasantly surprised that they offered a student rate of 3 E, and went inside. The Fuggeri was a family that was extremely influential in Augsburg during the 1500s, as they were wealthy from the spice trade and served many of the popes in providing capital for certain things. The amazing thing that the brothers did in Augsburg was to create the first (in the world) form of housing for people on a low income. Their idea was to create an area where people could live in reasonable housing at affordable rates, in hopes that this would enable them to save enough to start their own business or purchase their own property. This complex is still open today, and is incredible shape. The family still owns and operates the endowment which helps to finance it. Rent is still 0.88 E per month, as it originally was, but now tenants have to pay outside fees for water, sewer, and garbage. There were two model apartments open to the public, one being furnished as it might have been originally, and the other has been renovated and furnished as it might be today. Today, the primary residents are elderly people on fixed incomes. (The picture here is of Tara and a cardboard cut-out of the tour guide, who dresses as the Fuggeri brothers likely would have.)

After visiting the Fuggeri apartments, we walked to find a cafe so that Tara and Dr. Veltze could have a drink to cool off. Tara had some Turkish tea and Dr. Veltze had a Coke. I sipped from my water bottle and we chatted about Tara's home, her family, and her lifestlye. After this, we went to St. Anna's Lutheran Church, where Martin Luther spent some time, and I had the chance to discuss some of the basic tenants of the Christian religion with Tara, and explain the similarities and differences between the Protestant church, the Catholic church, and Judaism. She was very intrigued and shared with me a bit about her own Muslim faith.

We also visited the Maximillian Museum, which houses great collections of Renaissance and Baroque artifacts, including silver services, china, frescoes on ceilings, and many statues. We didn't spend as much time here as I could have, but it was more a function of the fact that I had kind of reached my saturation point for the day with artifacts and history, rather than the group pushing me on. Dr. Veltze wasn't feeling well due to a cold, so the two of us sat in a beautiful little courtyard here and she had a cappuccino, which she said gave her the energy to get through the rest of the day.

After visiting all these places, we headed back to the train station and on the way found a snack for me for dinner, a salami sandwich, and Dr. Veltze and Tara found a little table at a beer garden to have a look at some of the books that they had purchased throughout the day. When the group was gathered, we all headed for the train and ended up back at Pasing around 8:30. I was home by 9:00 and ready to fall into bed. If I had the opportunity to go back to Augsburg, I certainly would, since it sounded like the others saw so many things that we didn't get to see.